E2024-G182

Bak Sun-i and Her Devotion To Orphans

Narrative

Bak Sun-i (1921-1995) is known for having founded Chunghyeonwon, the oldest childcare facility in Gwangju. She came to be known by the family of the missionary Robert Wilson (1880-1963) from a young age, doing sewing work for the family to make a living. Through this, she naturally became familiar with the Western missionaries and the Christian church. In 1944, she married the singer Kim Saeng-ok, who had studied in Tokyo. However, she lost her husband in 1948 in the Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion. From then on, she devoted herself to caring for 45 orphans at Missionary Wilson's House in Yangnim-dong from 1949 to 1952, as the family had returned to America in 1948. Then, in 1952, she officially founded the Chunghyeon Orphanage in 1952 in Yangnim-dong.